Scattered Suns - Kevin J. Anderson [42]
Caleb scratched his gray-blond hair, which was still damp and clumpy from his shower. “I wouldn’t be averse to setting up a few profitable black-market operations with people who’ve never done us any harm.”
A grin formed in the nest of Kellum’s salt-and-pepper beard. “By damn, if we’re going to do that, we might as well also send representatives straight into the Ildiran Empire too. The Big Goose throws around the patriotic line that we’re supposed to help 'our own people,' but after their attacks I don’t feel bound to that anymore. Does anybody?”
The answer was a resounding No.
“We’re Roamers. We can do it,” Caleb called. “What else do we have to trade?”
Denn shrugged. “I’ve got a whole cargo of worldtree wood aboard my ship.”
Chapter 18—TASIA TAMBLYN
As she reached the convoy intercept point in space, Tasia kept thinking about how this new assignment could easily cause friction. Even so, she didn’t regret her decision to take over escort duties for the new Roamer detainees taken from the Chan asteroids.
“Are you sure about this, Commander Tamblyn?” Admiral Willis had asked her as she packed up to leave the Mars training base. “You’re not likely to win any popularity contests. Those people won’t be happy to see a fellow Roamer wearing an EDF uniform.”
“Can’t say I’m happy about current EDF policy myself, ma’am. However, I can serve the detainees better than someone who might be more...gullible about the overblown stories in the media.”
The old woman had smiled with her thin lips. “You are always refreshingly frank and outspoken, Tamblyn. But you didn’t answer my question.”
“I’d rather see that the Roamer captives are being treated fairly, even if some clan members think I’m a Judas.” Tasia looked unflinchingly back at the steel-haired admiral. “Besides, anything beats cooling my heels on Mars. The moment there’s an opportunity for a real mission against the drogues, I want to be first in line for consideration.”
“You’re already high on my list for that, Commander. Everybody knows your abilities. But for the time being, this assignment is all I can offer. Make some lemonade.”
So Tasia led a convoy of personnel carriers to pick up the Roamer captives. She’d been shocked and angry when she learned of Admiral Stromo’s pointless raid on a bunch of undefended greenhouse domes—using her own Manta cruiser! That was adding insult to injury.
At the intercept point in space, Stromo dumped off the detainees and then went off to his next stop, the recalcitrant Hansa colony of Yreka. While escorting the flustered and unsettled captives to a Klikiss holding world, Tasia hoped to remain on the bridge of the lead carrier for most of the voyage, since she was reluctant to face the prisoners. What was she supposed to say to them—that she was sorry the Eddies were out of control?
It was a long journey.
The captives were sure the Big Goose would throw them onto some hellish penal colony where they’d be forced to perform slave labor. Once the convoy reached its destination, the captive Roamers would see that their situation wasn’t so awful after all. At least Tasia hoped that would be the case. She herself had never been to the abandoned Klikiss world of Llaro.
She could have taken the detainees to a closer planet with a transportal and shipped them through the gateway to Llaro, thereby saving the ekti costs of such a massive personnel-transport operation. But her ship was also loaded with supplies and heavy equipment for the new Hansa settlement there, so the plan had made sense to the EDF bean counters and schedulers, and Tasia knew better than to argue with bureaucratic logic.
En route, she kept to herself, though she frequently thought about going among the detainees to talk with them and give reassurances. She supposed, though, that that might only provoke them. No matter how many